# Bands where the lead singer plays a non-traditional instrument **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 8, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715 "2025-01-08T04:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/21 "2025-01-08T08:28:39Z")
Lisa Gerrard of _Dead Can Dance_ plays the _yangqin_ Her co-lead Brendan Perry occasionally plays the hurdy-gurdy, although usually electric guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/22 "2025-01-08T08:35:08Z")
Bon Scott | bag pipes [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g-qkY2yj4_A/maxresdefault.jpg "AC/DC - It's A Long Way To The Top [Official Music Video], Full HD (Remaster, Resync and Upscale)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-qkY2yj4_A) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/23 "2025-01-08T08:54:36Z")
Velvet Underground’s John Cale on viola. Cale took turns as lead singer at times, I think. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/24 "2025-01-08T09:11:32Z")
I seem to recall **Simon le Bon** of _Duran Duran_ played the ocarina on the track _The Chauffer_. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/m9k_vSmWPMI/maxresdefault.jpg "Duran Duran - "The Chauffeur" from AS THE LIGHTS GO DOWN") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9k_vSmWPMI) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/25 "2025-01-08T10:21:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Rindy Ross, lead vocalist for Quarterflash played the saxophone. Buddy Randall, singer for The Knickerbockers, also played sax. Joni Mitchell played the mandolin. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/26 "2025-01-08T12:01:43Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > John Popper (Blues Traveler) plays harmonica. That’s probably the best example of a lead singer who’s known for playing the harmonica, but lots of lead singers play(ed) the harmonica at least occasionally (Robert Plant, Huey Lewis, John Lennon, Ray Davies), and I’m not sure where the OP would draw the line. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/27 "2025-01-08T12:36:21Z")
If you included the blues (and I don’t see why not), you have people like Junior Wells, Sugar Blue, Paul Butterfield, etc. And don’t forget Bob Dylan with folk music. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/28 "2025-01-08T12:47:51Z")
Didn’t George Harrison of the Beatles play an Indian stringed instrument called the Sitar that is much akin to the guitar? Thanks to my dad’s total love for the Beatles, I know as much about them as any Hippie left alive. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/29 "2025-01-08T12:53:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If you included the blues (and I don’t see why not) Depends on how strictly you adhere to “ **bands** where the lead singer…” Strictly speaking, you didn’t name any bands. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/30 "2025-01-08T12:55:27Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Didn’t George Harrison of the Beatles play an Indian stringed instrument called the Sitar that is much akin to the guitar? Yup. I gave my nephew a banjo. He tuned it (deliberately) to sound like a sitar. The guys got an ear. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/31 "2025-01-08T12:56:09Z")
OK, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. I don’t think the other two had a band moniker they went under. Bob Dylan and the Band. ETA: Oh, wait, Junior Wells did play with the Aces for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/32 "2025-01-08T13:48:06Z")
Zooey Deschanel of She & Him plays the ukulele. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/33 "2025-01-08T13:56:17Z")
Singer Lizzo plays the flute ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/34 "2025-01-08T14:23:34Z")
Captain Beefheart of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band played all kinds of wind instruments. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/35 "2025-01-08T14:26:08Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > lots of lead singers play(ed) the harmonica at least occasionally (Robert Plant, Huey Lewis, John Lennon, Ray Davies) Also Mick Jagger and Roger Daltrey. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/36 "2025-01-08T14:46:50Z")
Steven Tyler, too. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/37 "2025-01-08T14:50:46Z")
Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Band played trumpet and other brass instruments. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/38 "2025-01-08T15:06:23Z")
The lead singers in the bands [Morphine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine_(band)) and [Royal Blood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Blood_(band)) play(ed) bass, which I know was excluded by the OP, so I don’t know if these examples count, but they’re special modified bass guitars. In the case of Morphine, the singer played a modified 2-string bass, and the lead singer of Royal Blood plays a bass guitar modified to sound like a regular electric and a bass guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/39 "2025-01-08T15:36:50Z")
I dispute the notion that there is any strict line between what it is traditional for the lead singer to play and what is not traditional for them to play. When I picture a band, the lead singer is singing without playing anything. The next most common thing is that he (excuse me for always using the pronoun he) is playing some kind of guitar or string instrument like a banjo or a ukulele. The next most common thing is that he has a harmonica that he plays between his singing. The next most common thing is that he plays a drum or other percussion intrument. The next most common thing is that he is playing a violin or some other string instrument. The next most common thing is that he is playing a trumpet, a saxophone, a clarinet, a flute, or some other wind instrument. The next most common thing is that he is playing a tambourine. The next most common thing is that he is playing an accordion. The next most common thing is that he is playing an instrument with a odd foreign name that I wouldn’t have recognized if I hadn’t listened to vast amounts of music over the years. This is a spectrum, not something with a clear division into traditional and non-traditional. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/40 "2025-01-08T15:39:57Z")
What about keyboards? Steve Winwood, for example, in Traffic, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715.md?page=3)